Weird? Me?

Jenny, who writes an hilarious blog over at I’m having a Thought Here-The Latest Whatever, tagged me a while ago to tell you 5 weird things about me. I have already done this meme a couple of times now (you can check out the two previous occasions here and here) so I hesitated to burden you with even more of my oddities. However, on reflection I came up with yet another five quite easily so here they are:

1 I am a bit of a pedant about grammar and spelling. I realise of course, that I am now laying myself open to being corrected every time I write my blog but so be it….

2 My 25th wedding anniversary was on September 11th 2001. A very bad day to be celebrating anything. My (ex) husband had bought me a ring to celebrate the occasion. It was two long thin baguette diamonds – which looked too much like the fateful twin towers for comfort. I have hardly ever worn it.

3 My first pregnancy lasted 11 months. I was originally told my son was going to be born on 25th January but when I had a scan at the beginning of December, they said he was too small and my pregnancy wasn’t as advanced as they had originally thought. They then said he was due on March 9th. He was actually born on March 19th. He still finds it very hard to get out of bed…. :-)

4 I was once on the television local news. I had been shopping in Waitrose and as I steered my wobbly trolley around a corner I was confronted by a cameraman and a woman holding a bowl of muesli. Apparently Dorset Cereals muesli (delicious-highly recommended) is selling like mad out in the Caribbean because they consider it to be an aphrodisiac. She wanted me to try a spoonful and comment. I appeared on the local news looking particularly startled and gormless, mumbling through a mouthful of muesli. Marvellous.

5 When I did my degree, I was the only girl in the class of 20 boys. At the time, Metallurgy was not a subject that appealed to girls. I only chose it because I did Maths, Physics and Chemistry ‘A’ levels and as I was spectacularly indecisive, I decided to study Metallurgy as I had been told it used all three subjects and I didn’t have to make a decision. Bad idea. And as I was spectacularly shy too, I barely spoke to anyone for most of the time I was there. What a waste!

(This image is of Metal Corrosion and was taken with the PAXcam digital microscope camera on an Olympus metallograph at Battelle Advanced Materials. So there.)

I’m not tagging anyone in particular but I would like lots of you to have a go at this (if only to let me know I’m not as weird as all that!) Just leave a link in the comments so I can see how weird you are what you have to say.

I am very thrilled that Number 2 so has just arrived home from university after completing his final year. (Where did that time go? It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes since I was dropping him off on his first day – three years ago!) He gets his results on Thursday so we are on tenterhooks until then…. It seems so odd to think that soon he will be off in the big wide world. I could get all wistful about how time flies and start reminiscing about when they were both babies but thereby lies depression and gloom, so I am just going to show what HE was like as a nipper and move swiftly on….

You may have noticed that I have gone quiet on the bookbinding front…. The large album had a major disaster a few days ago. I was sticking the cover paper onto the board cover and thought I was being very clever. (Ha! I should have known better!) Instead of putting the glue onto the paper and having to manhandle a large gluey piece of paper, I thought, ‘I know, I will put the glue on the board and then I can manhandle a DRY piece of paper into place’. Genius. Except that the paper wrinkled terribly when it came into contact with the gluey board (I’m thinking that maybe this was because the act of spreading the glue onto the paper, stretches the paper first but doing it this way, the paper stretches after it is on the board and so, wrinkles up).

I tried to smooth out the paper but I managed to tear it and as I didn’t have any more of this particular paper, it was a disaster of epic proportions! And it was a Brazilian marbled paper I ordered from Paper Mojo in the US. However, I have to say, Shelly at Paper Mojo was a star and has Fedexed me a couple of sheets which have just arrived. (I ordered a spare sheet too!) Luckily, as Number 2 son is now at home, I have the extra pair of hands I needed to finish covering the book, so hopefully, the next stage will go a bit more smoothly…. fingers crossed.

I am listening to Coldplay’s new album Viva La Vida and I like it very much. Have I ever mentioned what a HUGE Coldplay fan I am? I have seen them twice in concert in London and then I saw them at Glastonbury three years ago. They are fantastic live. This is the new Apple iTunes ad featuring them singing the title track from the album. I suppose it is just a coincidence that Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow called their first baby Apple?

The only other thing I need to rave about is the match I watched yesterday between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the final of the Stella Artois Championships at Queen’s Club in London. Sublime tennis – so exciting and as close a match as you could imagine. Nadal won eventually but Djokovic played wonderfully and it was a very close run thing.

What a shame my knee is still tweaking and I can’t play tennis otherwise I would have played like a demon today after watching such an inspirational match.

33 responses to “Weird? Me?”

I don’t think you’re weird, though if you are, it’s weird in a good way :)

I love those photos. The one with you and your son and the one with just your son are great!

Sorry about the book. I’m glad you have the strength to keep working on it. I probably would’ve cursed and thrown it out the window.

I hope that knee feels better. I’ve been taking anti-inflammatory medicine for a could days now because I have a shoulder/neck injury from I-don’t-know-what and a mysterious thumb injury from softball. Very weird.

I’m with Strugglingwriter, I don’t think you’re weird at all…hm, or maybe it’s because I’m equally weird and can’t see weirdness if it bit me in the shin?? I enjoyed your factoids about yourself, and love the photo of you and ds#1!

I’m so bummed for you about the paper mishap! I have had things like that happen to me before, and those are usually occasions for my children to learn how to swear like a sailor from me. :}

Coldplay was one of our favorite groups; but for some odd reason, for the past 2 years or sp, we’ve kind of stopped listening to good music…most music. We still do some classicals and “oldies”, but not much. Very strange. I must remedy that.

We will all be watching/listening then! I too love Coldplay, who were introduced to me by my #2 son a few years ago (is the apostrophe in the write plaice?!). Listened to it in my car on the way home from work tonight and was very impressed. I think I might be going to prefer it to X&Y.

Hope the results are good on Thursday – graduation ceremony to look forward to?

Good luck with the book, you are very tenacious! Look forward to seeing the foto!

Vanessa – our sons have obviously got great taste in music as my boys are always trying to educate me (especially necessary since I grew out of Radio 1!) #2 son and I are off to Glastonbury again (not together I hasten to add) and as last year ,I don’t suppose I will see anything of him, he wants to see bands I’ve never heard of… ‘Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly.’ anyone? (Great name for a band though!) I’m more of an old school fan – Crowded House will be my highlight.

i really enjoyed that post. you could say that it had something for everyone.

i wished i’d seen the tennis. i don’t have a tele and even if i did i’m pretty certain that polish tv wouldn’t show it. i’m back in england from 3rd july so hopefully that’ll mean i can catch the end of wimbledon. do i have my dates right? i hope so!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it – we aim to please!
Wimbledon is on until the 6th July so you will be able to catch the last few days. I’m going to Wimbledon on the 29th (the Friday in the first week) so I hope to see some good tennis. I should be going to Glastonbury that day but as I plan to do both, I shall go to Glasto on Saturday morning.

You can papers down on glued up boards. THere is a trick. Just gently sponge the paper to be laid down on the back with water, wait one minute for the paper to expand, then lay down from one corner to the other. Then cover with a clean paper and use a brayer or something to smooth the paper to the board, thus eliminating bubbles. They you may continue with folding over the edges, and the corner mitre.

I do a lot of paper collage, and I find that by dampening the pices, waiting, then gluing them, I can get them placed smoothly. There is always enough moisture to allow positioning. The papers will be more fragile, so I use a pallette knife or a tweesers to maneuver the paper cuts.

Peggy – thank you so much for that. It sounds just the remedy I need. I plan to re-cover the other side of the album tomorrow – I’ll let you know how I get on!
I adore your marbled papers – they are wildly beautiful, right up my street :-) As a self confessed paper addict, I intend to investigate the papers you make thoroughly and I am adding you to my bookbinding resources page (Links) immediately.
Thanks for getting in touch :-)

Oh Diane you darling, sorry for the meme tag but it was done to me and as it was the first time I thought I’d share the “joy” … LOL … but I loved reading your quirky things and found some of them very interesting indeed, to wit:

I’m a grammar snob too and just today was reading and enjoying my copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves …

My husband was born on January 25th but was six weeks premature and so was due around March 7th … I was born on March 7th so we are six weeks shy of five years apart in age and sometimes I wonder if we were meant to have the same birthday … but the thing is, even after knowing me for over 33 years he still sometimes has to ask me if my birthday is March 7th or 9th … hmmm shall I keep him?

What you said about your son’s expected birthdate reminded me of that! And what a darling little tyke he was!

I can’t get my head around the fact that I am the mother of four adults, either. I don’t feel old enough. Sorry about the disaster with your book but that picture of the metal is amazing!

70steen- now that is a scary thought. Maybe I ought to loosen up a bit, let the odd speling misteak creep in……. :-)
Thank you! I look at that in wonderment at how thin I was. Must have been all that running around after #1 son :-)

Jenny – it was fun! I actually enjoy doing memes (it means I don’t have to think too hard about what to post!) I would have been married 33 years this year too – we only made it to 25 years though :-(
Hang on to yours, at least he gets the month right!

DM – it gets worse. I forgot to mention that he had to be induced even then.

some fascinating ‘weird’ facts Diane..
that ring sounds positively eerie :0
gorgeous photos of your ‘babies’…weren’t you the young Mum !!!
how time flies ..eh..
congratulations to son # 2 on his completion of his studies…
does he know what he is going to do ???
I hope your next book covering session is less stressful…eek..
going to listen to your music clip now :)

The ring thing was very strange. He gave me the ring the weekend before at a huge party we gave to celebrate. We were in Paris for our anniversary watching events unfolding in New York on the TV. The atmosphere in Paris was very subdued as you might imagine.
We separated two months later…(those things are not connected, by the way!)
#2 son is planning another gap year! He then plans to work in graphic design/advertising/marketing – he’s very talented, organised and motivated – I have no worries he won’t do wonderfully at whatever he decides to do.

I think your story about your son being a late arriver and still not liking to get out of bed was really cute. I had to have a cesarian because I had a little boy baby who just wouldnt give up and come out so I know a bit about that!!

The Rev – it is a good joke and I’m glad to meet a fellow pedant!
Supermarket trolleys are a nightmare – as for the clip, I did actually find it but I wouldn’t dream of sharing it with you all, just too, too embarrassing :-)

Astrid – gorgeous! I am going to check that site out very thoroughly! Thanks for that :-)

Teresa – fancy someone spotting that! Not sure who Bill O’Reilly is – he’s certainly not well known over here but will check him out now!

DianeCA – my son had to be induced (my ex said rustling £5 notes would have done the trick!) and was a forceps birth – he really didn’t want to come out! Glad I didn’t have to have a Caesarean though, don’t like the sound of that at all! :-)

That’s the key. Play with someone slightly worse at the game than you are! Good for the confidence – although playing with someone better than you is probably better for your game in the long run! As long as you enjoy yourself that’s the main thing :-)